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(No Model.)

J. 0. LARKIN.

RAILROAD RAIL JOINT.

No. 328,692. Patented Oct. 20 1885.

INVENTOR' 4i f 3 BY MI v ATTORNEYS;.

N. PETERS. PlwloLlthognpher. Waahingtun, n. c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN CYRUS LARKIN, OF WHITEFIELD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, ALSON L. BROWN, WARREN G. BROWN, EDWARD RAY, AND

GEORGE BERNARD, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIPICATIONformlng part of Letters Patent No. 328,692, dated October 20, 1885.

Application filed August 13, 1885. Serial No.174,285. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN OYRUs LARKIN, of Whitefield, in the county of Coos and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad -Rail Joints, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan view of one of my improved railroad-rail joints. Figure 2 is a sectional end elevation of the same, taken through the line 00 as, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional end elevation of the same, taken through the line y 3 Fig. 1.

The object of this invention is to provide railroad-rail joints designed especially to prevent switch -rails from binding, so that the switch-rails can be set at any time without cutting the ends of the rails. The joint can also be used at any desired part of the track where it is desired to make allowance for the expansion or creeping of the rails.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the joint, as will be hereinafter fully described and then claimed.

A B represent two rails forming a joint, and which, for convenience, I prefer to make eight feet long. The adjacent ends of the rails are beveled for the distance of four feet, and are arranged with their beveled sides overlapping each other. The base-flanges, C, of the beveled parts of the rails are widened gradually from the beginning of the bevels to the ends of the rails, so that the outer edges of the said flanges will be parallel with the beveled sides of the rails. The beveled parts of the rails AB are placed in chairs D,placed about two feet apart, so that the ends of the rails will never be withdrawn from their seats in the said chairs, and the said chairs D are firmly spiked to ties E. The rail B, adjacent to the switch-rails, is held firmly in place by spikes F, driven through holes in the chairs D, through recesses in the edge of the railfiange, and into the tie E, so that the said rail will always be in such a position as to form a proper joint with the switch-rail and allow the switch-rail to be easily set at any time, the movement being wholly confined to the other rail, A. The arms of the chairs D at the side of the movable rail A are extended upward along the web of the rail, and are provided with set-screws G, the forward ends of which rest against the web of the rail, so that'the wear of the rails can be taken up. The rails A B are made exactly alike, so that when the rail most subject to wear becomes worn the said rails can be reversed and the other rail exposed to the wear. This joint can be placed at the beginning of curves, and will prevent the joint from being forced outward, forming what is known among railroad men as a diamond joint, and which fre-,

quently causes the derailing of cars.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railroad-rail joint, the combination, with the chairs D, of the railsA B, having the adjacent sides of their ends beveled and overlapped, and the edges of their base-flanges parallel with the said beveled surfaces, substantially as herein shown and described, whereby the said beveled sides will be kept in contact, however the said rails may slide upon each other, as set forth.

2. In a railroad-rail joint, the combination, with the overlapped beveled ends of the rails A B, and the chairs D, having upwardly-projecting arms, of the set-screws G, substantially as herein shown and described, whereby the wear of the rails can be readily taken up, as

set forth.

JOHN CYRUS LARKIN. Witnesses:

SPRAGUE CARLETON, ANoIL O. HALL. 

